The new government has severely failed to tackle Arab violence – editorial

JPOST EDITORIAL

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This situation is unacceptable, and the fact that the new government – the first in the county’s history to have Arab members – has yet to address the issue is a disgrace.

A protest against the rising crime and violence in the Arab sector in Israel, Jaffa, Saturday, February 6, 2021. / (photo credit: SASSONI AVSHALOM)

Another week has gone by and the Arab community in Israel keeps on counting their dead.

According to an Abraham Initiatives track, some 43 Arab citizens of Israel have died in violence-related incidents since the beginning of 2021.

The last one was Ahmad Issa, a 17-year-old teen who was stabbed and then run over by a car in his home village of Kafr Kasim.

Issa was killed right after his high school graduation. His father said at his funeral that he couldn’t believe it when he was told about his son’s death.

“I trusted him totally… I was waiting for him to come back home – and instead, he came back in a coffin. He was so happy at his graduation and we were all happy with him,” he said.

“But this day of joy turned into a deep sorrow that will go with us for the rest of our lives,” he was quoted by Ynet as saying.

The violence plague in the Arab sector is getting out of hand, and it doesn’t seem like its end is anywhere near.

Mafias run the streets in Arab towns and villages, and no one in the new government – just like the old one – seems to be moving in the direction of putting an end to this.

Last week, Channel 12 News reported a senior police source saying that most of the severely violent attacks in Arab society are done by people who cooperate with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) to prevent attacks against Jews.

This, if true, is a troubling revelation. For years, Arab citizens and Arab leaders complained that the police are doing nothing about crime because Jews are not involved, and once the violence will be aimed at Jews, they will interfere.

This report strengthens the notion that the country prefers allowing privileged criminals to continue their activities unfettered, forsaking besieged, law-abiding Arab citizens as long as the lawbreakers are assisting security officials in combating terror against Jews.

However, the Shin Bet denied this report. This raises another question: Did the police leak this quote to the media in order to ditch its responsibility and shift the blame to the security agency?

Either way, the message that has been repeatedly relayed is that Israeli Arab citizens are on their own in combating the scourge of crime and violence in their society.

Some of them have complained in the past that even “normative people” feel the need to carry a gun to protect themselves because the police won’t do it for them.

This situation is unacceptable, and the fact that the new government – the first in the county’s history to have Arab members – has yet to address the issue is a disgrace.

The solution to this situation should be an across-the-board investment in Arab society.

Since martial law was lifted in 1966, Israel’s Arab citizens have suffered discrimination. Despite being equal by law, this minority, which comprises 20% of the population, has never enjoyed the same amount of budget and government investment in its communities.

An intra-ministerial committee submitted recommendations in a variety of fields that would advance Arab society and could potentially break the violence and death cycle. One of the topics mentioned in this document is “inactive young men,” which talks about unemployed, idle men who are naturally drawn into violence and are used by the mafia.

According to this government report, some 40% percent of Arabs aged 18 to 23 are not involved in any kind of work or educational context. The Abraham Initiatives noted in their report earlier this week that out of the 43 Arab citizens who have died in violence-related incidents so far this year, more than half of them were young men under 30. A solution for them would be establishing appropriate programs that keep them gainfully off the streets with a decent income.

This adds to the planning and construction issue, in which Arab municipalities rarely get comprehensive programs approved, which makes it impossible for the town to grow and for its residents to get building permits. This leads many citizens to be denied getting mortgages from the bank, so they turn to the gray market instead, which is a main activity of the mafias.

It is up to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Alternative Prime Minister Yair Lapid to affect historic change.

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